School Part 3

The 3rd part of the school consideration process was for Deane to be evaluated and observed.  In our district and in accordance with our schedule and the staff schedules, this meant two visits.
The first visit was in the preschool classroom.  In the domain meeting, we discussed that I wanted to be present for all of Deane's evaluations.  I felt it was important to see how they were evaluating him.  When I arrived, the speech team met us and planned to have me meet with the social worker and school nurse in a separate room while the speech team evaluated him in the special education preschool room.  I just reminded them that we had discussed being in the same room and they accommodated me.  I just completed most of the forms/questionnaires myself (to avoid interrupting the class) versus being asked all of the questions.

After speech team felt they had enough information, it appeared we were going to be done.  I asked whether both teachers (both special education and general education) would observing Deane or if this was not part of the process.  The team didn't seem to know so after asking, we moved over to the general education preschool room for a little bit more observation. 

For me the lesson of that visit was that the staff was not trying to provide me any less of an experience than I wanted, but that I needed to ask questions and gently remind them of what I wanted in order to get it. 

On our return visit, Deane was evaluated one on one (versus in a classroom observation setting) by the occupational therapy provider and the school psychologist.  In this instance, this looked like Deane performing tasks like stringing beads, drawing lines and circles, doing a puzzle, etc. (for OT) and identifying objects in a book and attempting block formations (for psych; intention was to evaluate cognition).  This visit gave me the opportunity to speak to Deane's skills when he wasn't interested or compliant since (as so many providers acknowledge), you will never see a young child's true abilities in one 2 hour visit with him in a strange environment.

I have found all of the staff very easy to work with.  I think it's important for parents to be informed as to what they are looking for, be prepared to ask questions, and understand the process in order to be comfortable.  In districts where staff cuts and budget restrictions have left staff doing double duty in steering this process, there may be times when they don't know how to handle the situation because they have not seen it before.  I wanted to write this from a factual stand point, but would be happy to discuss more details and opinions with other parents.